Gusto
"Gusto", known as "Gusta" (ガスタ Gasuta) in the OCG, are an archetype released in Duel Terminal - Raid of the Inverz!!. Their name is based on the word "Gust" and their team symbol is a colored disc with a silver whirlwind. Their Synchro Monsters, the "Daigusto", seem to be the combined Levels of the two monsters that appear in the artworks. They also have two Xyz Monsters, "Daigusto Phoenix" and "Daigusto Emeral". All known "Gusto" monsters are WIND so they can use WIND support cards such as "Spiritual Wind Art - Miyabi", and can be Special Summoned by "Flying Kamakiri #1". The archetype consists of Winged Beast, Psychic, and Thunder-Type monsters. Only Winged Beast-Type "Gusto" monsters (except "Gusto Codor", "Gusto Griffin", and "Gusto Squirro") are Tuner monsters and all of the Synchro Monsters have "Daigusto" in their names. The archetype's main strategy is almost entirely based on tightening their defense and loading the Graveyard, since most support for the Gusto archetype requires 2 or more Gusto monsters to be shuffled into the Deck. The Deck relies on heavy defensive tactics, beginning with its trio of searchers which form what Duelists refer to as "the recruiter loop": "Winda, Priestess of Gusto", "Gusto Gulldo" and "Gusto Egul." These three cards can continuously search one another out of the Deck when destroyed in battle while simultaneously filling the Graveyard for other Gusto monster effects. For example, "Caam, Serenity of Gusto" can shuffle 2 Gusto monsters back into the Main Deck in order to draw a card, and "Musto, Oracle of Gusto" can shuffle 1 Gusto monster into the Deck and negate various monster effects. Due to flexibility given by these cards, both Caam and Musto are considered Staples in most Gusto Decks. "Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto" allows you to forcibly exchange 1 Gusto monster you control for one monster your opponent controls of your choice. Use one of the Gusto searchers mentioned above (except "Winda" due to its wording), in order to boost your Field Advantage and reduce your opponent's. Besides Reeze, cards like "Creature Swap" and "Mystic Box" can also be used for similar purpose. "Windaar, Sage of Gusto" is a Gusto monster with 2000 ATK that can Special Summon any low-Level Gusto monster in your Graveyard whenever it destroys a monster in battle. Unfortunately, it is Level 6, making it somewhat problematic to Summon. You can use "Gusto Codor" and "Gusto Thunbolt" to soften the cost of both Windaar's and Reeze's Summon, and set up plays in conjunction with Reeze. Overall, Gusto Decks are naturally passive, having a resilient defensive strategy and great recycling/draw power. With the right build, however, they can surprise an unwary opponent with little effort (especially against aggressive-type Decks). Duel Terminal Storyline A tribe that lives with the wind and worships the bountiful land they’ve lived on since ancient times. Against their various outside enemies they link their hearts together with and battle along animals that live around in order to protect their land through the generations. However, the Steelswarms started to take over the surface land. So, the Gustos united with the other clans to create a temporary union lead by Vylons. They obtained new powers to fight back the Steelswarms. Soon, the union finally defeated the invaders, but conflicts haven't lowered yet; the Vylons decided to stop the wars between clans — by exterminating them completely. Later, the Gusto teamed up once again with the other clans in order to cease the Vylon's actions. After stopping the Vylons, the union between the tribes disbanded. At the time, Gusto tribes were in danger of being attacked by the Gishkis (which goals to claim all the Mist Valley's resources by themselves for their rituals). Fortunately, the Gem-Knights foresee this, and they lend their powers to protect Gusto tribes from danger. After the lswarms appeared and threatening to destroy the world, the Gusto decided to join forces with Gem-Knights and Constellars to stop lswarms for good. Pure Gusto This Deck solely focusing on maintaining field presence via Gusto recruiters. Since they're not naturally offensive, their strategy often involving manipulating control of opponent's monster via "Reeze, Whirlwind of Gusto" and securing advantage via "Shrine of Mist Valley", "Caam, Serenity of Gusto" and "Windaar, Sage of Gusto". After that, player can often Synchro Summon "Daigusto Sphreez" for delivering finishing blows at the opponent. Gust Valley This build centered on using Gusto monsters in conjunction with Mist Valley archetype cards such as "Mist Valley Falcon", "Genex Ally Birdman", and "Divine Wind of Mist Valley". Gusto monsters set up the primary defense and Deck-thinning, and afterwards you can return the Gusto monster that survived the previous turn via "Genex Ally Birdman", while also activating the effect of "Divine Wind of Mist Valley" to Special Summon more monsters for a Synchro Summon. Two top-choice monsters to Synchro Summon are "Arcanite Magician" (who can provide destructive ability) and "Mist Valley Thunder Lord" (the strongest monster in the Deck). "Caam, Serenity of Gusto" is utilized for adding draw power, and also grant access to most Daigusto monsters. By including "Gusto Codor" in this type of build, Sphreez OTK strategies will also available. Night Gusto This build combines Gusto monsters along with some staple DARK monsters to Summon "Dark Simorgh". While Gusto recruiters load WIND monsters in the Graveyard, cards like "D.D. Crow", "Tragoedia", and "Destiny HERO - Malicious" can help set up Synchro Summoning and load the Graveyard with DARK monsters for Dark Simorgh's Summoning. It is the only Gusto Decks that can utilize "Tour Guide From the Underworld" to its maximum potential. Psycho Gusto (PsyGusto) This build combines Gusto with some of Banish Psychic Deck's components. "Serene Psychic Witch" is the main card in this Deck, while cards like "Silent Psychic Wizard", "Esper Girl", "Psychic Jumper", and "Destructotron" can be added for more options. Naturia Synchro Monsters are also included and becoming primary control elements in this Deck (due to most non-Gusto Psychics are EARTH Attribute). Due to "Emergency Teleport" being Unlimited in September 2012 Lists, this variant's power will surely increased exponentially, due to easy access of most of your Psychic-type Tuners and floaters. It will also increase the consistency of bringing out your "Naturia Beast" and "Naturia Barkion" during the early game stage. Meta-Drain Gusto Basically, it is an Anti-Meta Deck that has similar concepts as T.G. Anti-Meta Deck, but utilizing Gusto monsters instead. Gusto monsters maintain primary defense, while also using beatdown monsters such as "Beast King Barbaros", "Thunder King Rai-Oh", and/or "Malefic Cyber End Dragon", combined with "Skill Drain" and "Shrine of Mist Valley" for putting your opponent's strategy under pressure and at the same time covering virtually any weaknesses in your Gusto defense. "Caam, Serenity of Gusto" ensures that your defense line will always live, even under Skill Drain's and Necrovalley's influences (due to Caam's shuffling-to-Deck effect is a Cost which unaffected by those cards, except you will not get the draw effect in the former's case). Despite its Stun-esque strategy, "King Tiger Wanghu" is not recommended for use, since its effect will automatically destroy any Summoned Gusto recruiters, rendering this Deck's main strategy pointless (unless "Skill Drain" or "By Order of the Emperor" is active). Dragonrider Gusto A hybrid between Gusto and Dragunity, it is designed to take advantage of "Gusto Griffin" with cards like "Dragon Ravine" and "Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg" for swarming purpose, combined with the classic Dux-Phalanx-Vajrayana combo for more offense power, while maintaining defense with Gusto recruiters. Like the original Dragunity builds, this Deck's also capable of rapid Rank 6 Xyz Summoning, but its only differences are instead of "Dragunity Knight - Vajrayana", this Deck's more depending on "Dragunity Knight - Gae Dearg" for setting up explosive plays. Daylight Gusto A Synchrocentric-style Deck that is created by combining Gusto with Vylon archetype, this Deck has similar playstyle as Pure Gusto build, only with additional support as "Vylon Prism" and "Vylon Tetra for added flexibility in Synchro Summoning. This Deck is more Synchro Summon-reliant than any other builds due to large number of Tuners this Deck includes, but allows more options to be included in the Extra Deck, even some Synchro Monsters that is unavailable otherwise, such as "Vylon Epsilon", and in extremely rare cases, "Vylon Omega". Scrapyard Gusto Another Gusto hybrid Decks which utilizes the 'floating' aspect of Pure Gusto build, combined with destructive ability of "Scrap Dragon" for constantly gaining advantage by destroying cards and gaining additional monsters at the same time. "Scrap Beast" is the main Tuner in this Deck, and it can combined with the obvious "Scrap Chimera" or "Summoner Monk" for bringing out "Scrap Dragon" easily. Hurricane Tyranno A defensive Gusto Deck entirely focused on reflecting all battle damage through the swift Synchro Summoning of "Daigusto Sphreez" and utilizing the 'floating' aspect of the Pure Gusto build. To fuel this tactic for a potential OTK with minimal risk, forcefully Special Summon "Ultimate Tyranno" (when it is in your Graveyard) to your opponent's side of the field using "Give and Take" and then activate "Battle Mania" to make them attack you repeatedly with it, martyring all of your Gusto searchers into your opponent's strongest monster(s). If required, Forbidden Dress contributes to the strategy by deliberately weakening your Gusto monsters to increase the reflected battle damage and protecting them too at the same time. However even if the OTK is prevented, the overall deck effectiveness is not severely weakened: the Pure Gusto build at the core of this deck makes it very easy to Tribute Summon "Ultimate Tyranno" yourself to your own advantage and support it with "Ultimate Axon Kicker". You can even use "Give and Take" to Special Summon Gusto searchers to your opponent's side of the field for further field advantage. Weakness As previously touched upon, the Gusto Deck's critical flaws are the below-average ATK of many of its monsters, making them somewhat unsuitable for combat. Since this Deck's strategy relies heavily on the Graveyard, any form of banishment can damage or cripple the entire Deck. Macro-based Decks or anything that runs "Dimensional Fissure", "D.D. Crow", or even "Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer" can shut this Deck down completely. "Transmigration Break", combined with "Poisonous Winds" can effectively place this Deck in a deadlock, since most of Gusto support cards need a certain amount of Gusto monsters in the Graveyard to recycle them. Gravekeeper's Decks, which use "Necrovalley," making recycling attempts much harder, albeit some Gusto monster such as "Caam, Serenity of Gusto" and "Daigusto Gulldos" can somewhat bypass Necrovalley's limitation. "Archlord Kristya", "Fossil Dyna Pachycephalo" and other anti-Special Summon cards can also shut the Gusto Deck's defenses down, due to their excessive needs of Special and Synchro Summoning. Gladiator Beast Decks are arguably one of the worst possible match-up for Gusto, since they gain advantage through battle, and have access to cards such as "Gladiator Beast Retiari", "Gladiator Beast Gyzarus", and "Gladiator Beast War Chariot". Inzektors, Lightsworns, and more recently, Atlantean-Mermail Decks can also problematic, since their main strategy involving mass destruction via effects of "Inzektor Hornet", "Judgment Dragon", and "Atlantean Marksman"/"Atlantean Heavy Infantry", respectively, making almost all Gusto battle searchers unable to activate their effects (except for just a few like "Gusto Gulldo"). If facing Lightsworn-based Decks, be wary of "Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter", due to its "destroy-then-mill" effects makes many Gusto recruiters forced to miss their timing. Atlantean-Mermail can also dangerous in this aspect, due to their ability of manipulating the Atlantean monster effect's Chain order to make most of the recruiters miss timing, the same as "Ryko" (or even more dangerous than "Ryko"). Monsters with piercing effects such as "Blackwing Armed Wing", "Flamvell Uruquizas" and "Hyper Psychic Blaster" can also threatening to both your monsters and Life Points, due to most Gusto monster's low stats. Even more troublesome is monsters with auto-defense-destruction/disruption effect such as "Red Dragon Archfiend", "Ally of Justice Catastor", "Exploder Dragonwing", "Ehren, Lightsworn Monk", "Legendary Six Samurai - Enishi", "Evolzar Dolkka", "Gem-Knight Citrine", and also "Evigishki Merrowgeist", because they can simply cut off the recruiter loop without much effort. "King Tiger Wanghu" (which can be found in most Anti-Meta Decks) can instantly destroy any Summoned Gusto recruiters as soon as they hit the field, making defensive attempts even much harder. "Number 16: Shock Master" is also absolutely disastrous (most commonly found in Xyz-centric Decks such as Wind-Ups) since it can disable any Gusto defenses for maximum 3 turns. Also, beware of "Abyss Dweller" and "Soul Drain", which can disable any in-Graveyard effects including most of the searchers. To counter all of these threats, "Skill Drain", "Breakthrough Skill", "Fiendish Chain", and in case of "Soul Drain" and "Macro Cosmos", "Mystical Space Typhoon", "Dust Tornado", "Royal Decree" and even "Fairy Wind" can be used without disturbing your own Gusto monsters too much. Be careful of "Deck Devastation Virus" also, since most Gusto monsters have below 1500 ATK. This is most common when against Dark World, Malefics, or even some Blackwing Decks. Due to most Gusto support cards requiring Gusto monsters to be shuffled into the Deck, they can quickly empty your Graveyard, and refilling it can be a hard time if you don't have a member of the searchers available. "Guardian Eatos" is usually a decent card in this kind of situation, but isn't recommended when using hybrid builds. Having too many recruiters in your hand (at least 3 or more, or 2 with the same name) also can reduce their effectiveness, since they can only searches for one another from the Deck. Trivia * Daigusto Synchro Monsters is similar to that of Dragunity Knights in terms of appearance, consisting of rider and its mounts (Winged Beast and Dragons for "Dragunity" and Psychic and Winged Beasts for "Gusto", respectively). ** "Daigusto Sphreez" is the only exception, since she does not have a mount. ** This is probably referencing to the partnership between "Mist Valley" and "Dragunity" in the past. According to the Duel Terminal story, Gusto tribe is Mist Valley tribe's descendant who inhabit the region after Trishula's rampage. * All Gusto non-Synchro Psychic-Type monster seems have a pairing system between its male and female members, which determined by their Levels. They also have exactly 6 members, which is most likely made of 3 pairs. If sorted from the highest to the lowest, it may resemble a family tree of some sort.